Well, there’s a big difference between her and Obama. She has (possibly) changed her mind from its previous (clearly homophobic) position. He was always pro equality but had to play with the timing of his announcement due to the rampant homophobia in the US that might have affected his chance of a 2nd term. No 2nd tern- no equal marriage.

What I find so difficult to grasp in the global clamour for gay marriage is that gay men are least hot wired of all people to swear an oath of matrimony and fidelity.

Men by their very nature are not designed to be with one mate for life, and generally have the urge to spread their seed far and wide.

To prove my point, in all of the years civil ceremonies have been possible its uptake by gay people is a tiny proportion of us combined.

The uptake for gay marriage will likely be even smaller, and compared to the rate of heterosexual marriage infinitessimal.

The simple truth is that gay marriage is a minority interest even among gays if we assume there are 1.5 million of us living in the UK yet only just over 13,000 – less than 1 per cent! – chose to be civilly wed in 2011.

Am I missing something here or is gay marriage being fought as much for its likelihood to destroy the fabric of Christianity in the UK as it is for the tiny minority of activists who’re demanding it it?

The only troll I can see around here is the likes of you, Sasha, who police this site to make sure everyone jumps into line with the PC consensus and alternative viewpoints are trodden on, stifled and stymied.

Everyone is entitled to air an opinion:- I state some obvious and provable facts but seems the louder the truth, the more that truth must be crushed at all costs.

Dumb arse, millions of heterosexual males commit adultery, many of them remarry over and over and divorce over and over. Some of those adulterers proclaim the sanctity of marriage too while doing the very opposite. Provide the facts to substantiate your claim that the minority of gay people want equal marriage?

Civil marriage has NOTHING to do with religion you jackass. That’s why it was invented so that hetero adulterers and serial adulterers could marry outside the church which refuses to marry divorcess to this day. Govermment introduced civil marriage in the 19th century, not the cults.

I don’t think that the numbers that seek to take up marriage or the number of failures of civil partnerships have any bearing on whether or not marriage rights should be available for gay people.

As for you assertion that this is about destroying Christianity, well that’s just ridiculous. Really and truly.

Why do we need to understand what marriage really entails etc, there’s no such onus on heterosexual people?

I’d also point out that we’re not just asking for marriage rights for gay but gay women too. If you’re right that gay men are the least likely group to seek marriage surely gay women are the most likely.

I think as well Samuel we have to consider the fact that up until very recently it was never possible for gay people to have any kind of legal legitimacy for their relationships. Any gay person of marriageable age grew up being told that only straight people get married and most of us grew up with gay relatinoships being shunned. It’s part of our mentality that gay people just don’t have relationships in the same way as straight. Once gay people are growing up in a world where they can marry and it becomes something that’s acceptable I truly think that we’ll see a rise in gay partnerships of whatever flavour.

Samuel is right in all he says. Men are hard wired to want to roam about, and the uptake of civil partnerships has been pretty low..

But I’m one of that minority who has always wanted just one guy.. The very few people I’ve been involved with, I had always hoped would be the final one. It would be nice to make it official in some way when I do find the right person, difficult though that may be..

And I do quite like the idea of us having access to everything that everyone else has, just on principle alone. I sort of feel, why should we be singled out?

Also, if marriage for gay people did destroy the fabric of Christianity in this country… Hey, bonus~ bwahahaha

“What I find so difficult to grasp in the global clamour for gay marriage is that gay men are least hot wired of all people to swear an oath of matrimony and fidelity.”

What about women…?

No matter how many people wish to marry, it should be an option open to everyone no matter what their sexuality. It’s fine that you personally don’t want to get married – you should do what you think best not feel you have to do what others do – but it’s equally fine for those who DO want to marry to be able to. That’s how it is with straight people and that’s how it should be for us. The choice should be there whether you or I choose to take it or not.

You may choose another pair of lenses to look at this in a more positive way. My wanting marriage equality has nothing to do with religion; but, more to share and celebrate in the same way and same beautiful relationship as my parents and grandparents, and every other married couple in my family did.

Samuel B I can only think you must be a believer in Intelligent Design when you write,
“Men by their very nature are not designed to be with one mate for life,”
In that case did your God design men to be with one mate for life in marriage as some Christians insist or did he not, he doesn’t seem to be able to make up his mind and neither do you from what you’ve wtitten.

Thank you Maria Miller for speaking out on behalf of equality and for increased social stability something that most conservatives support, unless they are more motivated by their religious beliefs rather than a desire for a progressive society.

To the discussion about how many people want equal marriage, rights are not about and have never been about numbers. Nor should they ever be: the wrongness of the death penalty doesn’t become right so long as you only kill a few.

I hope this does not mean they are no longer consider extending the current proposals to include permission for those religions that have expressed an interest in equality to carry out same-sex marriages.

The subtext I get from this is marriage should be for everyone, unless they are Quakers, Unitarians, Liberal Jews etc because their marriages won’t have any legal recognition if they involve same sex couples!

The old gay red guard are strangely silent now – well done for stating your support so unambiguously Maria Miller – you deserve an apology from all those mean-minded trots who attacked you when you were appointed, even though they had no idea what your view on equal marriage was – now that really is pre-judice.

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